'Sweet Liberia: Lessons from the Coal Pot'

February 16, 2012

Susan Peters’ autobiography Sweet Liberia, Lessons from the Coal Pot, tells the story of how Peters' got stranded in Liberia during the Liberian Civil War. The war began in 1989. Peters moved to Liberia because she was disgusted with how African-Americans were treated in the United States. She wrote that she wanted to go to a nation where Africans were in charge. Peters and her family initially remained as civil war loomed, even after the U.S. evacuated most of its citizens. She and her children were stranded as the conflict raged. Months later, they were able to escape to the American Embassy. She tells Worldview and WBEZ's Richard Steele, what life was like in Liberia.